Genealogy research by Mark Humphrys.
Genealogy research by Mark Humphrys.
Rev. Daniel O'Sullivan,
PP of Tarbert and Ballylongford from 1823 until his death 1832:
Tarbert and Ballylongford was the united parish of Kilnaughtin and Aghavallen.
He is
listed as PP Tarbert 1823 and 1824.
There was a church at Ballylongford,
but
Tarbert church history
says there was no proper church at Tarbert:
"As late as 1827 Catholic parishioners were worshipping in a thatched chapel in "Ryan's Field",
adjoining Kilnaughtin, until a storm blew the roof in that year."
Fr. Daniel's curate or assistant was
Fr. Dan McCarthy,
who started the building of a proper Tarbert church in 1830 (finished in 1833).
Fr. Daniel lived Ballylongford.
Apparently
[Pigot's Directory, 1824]
(not in Tarbert section, must be in another section)
shows
he lived on "Mill St" (must be
Ballylongford mill).
This may actually be the old
Rahilly house
beside the mill,
that Rahilly may have inherited from him
(the pub may be the old priest's house).
He died Ballylongford, June 1832.
He died "a few days ago, after a long illness"
[Kerry Evening Post, Sat 23rd June 1832].
|
The controversy about his burial in 1832:
Fr. Daniel died in June 1832 during a cholera
epidemic. Before his death he had expressed a wish of being buried inside the church at Ballylongford. Suspecting (correctly) that the cholera epidemic would cause a problem with this, a group of Ballylongford people buried him at night, at 2 am, morning of Fri 29 June, inside Ballylongford church. A Catholic magistrate from the Ballylongford area ordered his body disinterred, on morning of Sat 30 June, and buried in the church grounds [Chute's Western Herald, 5th July 1832, [NLI]]. There was a huge controversy caused by this. An anonymous letter was printed in the [Tralee Mercury, 4th July 1832, [NLI]] attacking the unnamed magistrate. It says there were protests, but to no avail, and the body was exhumed and re-buried: "amidst the execrations and yells of hundreds, who certainly, had it not been for the presence of the Police, never would have allowed the remains of their Priest to have been treated with such indignity". The letter describes this as the magistrate's "whim", and is outraged that the police supported him. In [Chute's Western Herald, 14th July 1832, [NLI]] they print a letter from Francis Crosbie, JP, Protestant gentleman, magistrate for Co.Kerry, replying to the anonymous letter and defending the Catholic magistrate. He says the re-burial was necessary "to prevent contagion at this critical period". He says the 2 am burial was conducted by "a few of the most notoriously disorderly persons of the town". He says that Fr. Daniel had in fact directed prior to his death that if there were objections to his being buried in Ballylongford church that he should be buried in Killarney (his homeland). |
Fr. Daniel was succeeded as P.P. by
Fr. Dan McCarthy.
He left everything to his nephew Daniel O'Sullivan,
"including the new gallery in the chapel of Ballylongford".
It was very unusual that he, rather than the Church, could own this.
Was this perhaps like leaving the rights to private pews?
He left everything to his nephew
"except one house, and the lands around it", which he left
"to my niece Margaret Rahilly".
It was frowned on that a priest could amass a modest fortune.
Undated entry for Meentoges, Kilcummin par, Co.Kerry, in
[Tithe Survey, 1823-37].
"Daniel Sullivan" and McCarthy hold the largest plot, 118 acres, in Meentoges West.
Fr. Daniel seems to have inherited his father's farm.
From here.
Another undated entry for Meentoges in
[Tithe Survey, 1823-37].
Here Cornelius Sullivan and McCarthy hold a plot of 95 acres.
Perhaps this is Fr. Daniel's heir.
From here.
The old church at Ballylongford on
1829 to 1842 map.
This building is gone.
There is a new church a short distance away.
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